the universe, entranced by a stubborn heart
by SerpentineShadows
Summary: Luffy doesn't know how many times he's failed, but he'll keep going until he succeeds. He has to. Post-Marineford. Sort of. Canon divergent.


**A/N:** So, _shattered, again and once more_ kind of spoils this, and this kind of spoils that story, but you know what, that's okay because they're not part of the same overall story. I wrote this because deciding how to change how the Impel Down arc went down drove me _crazy_ and I just wanted Ace to survive, so this is by no means perfect because I kind of went "I don't care if this couldn't actually happen." This totally ran away from me, especially with the Hancock POV, and I think my hatred for the Impel Down arc kind of shows in the writing, sorry about that. I might write a couple extra scenes, like the marines trying to strip Hancock of her title, the Whitebeards, etc.

* * *

Luffy stumbles out of a bulky machine that's covered in moss, as if it's trying to blend in with the jungle around them. His eyes sweep over familiar scenery, lingering on a small patch of tempting mushrooms a few steps away.

On cue, Luffy's stomach growls like a wild beast, and he wraps his arms around himself. He's hungry and tired, his body aching to sleep for a week straight and to scarf down an extravagant feast, but most of all, he's lonely.

Even though he knows he's on a populated island, with friends who don't know they're his friends yet within shouting distance, he's lonely. He wants to see his crew again, apologize for having failed them, but he can't. Not yet.

Because he doesn't know how or why, but he's been given a chance—so many chances—to correct his mistake with Ace, so he doesn't care if there's an aching cavity in his chest, festering with loneliness. Luffy is going to save Ace, his stupid big brother who hasn't even accepted he wants to be saved yet, no matter what. He _has_ to, or else there's no point in being strong if he's not strong enough.

At this point, he can't be distracted by his hunger or the desire to see his crew burning in his heart. He has to focus all of his energy and then some into saving Ace (because, physically, he really _isn't_ strong enough yet), and the first step to that is finding Marguerite.

The problem is, Luffy only knows that Marguerite is close enough to stumble upon him. He doesn't know where she actually is. So, even though he can almost hear Nami yelling at him and punching him for being stupid, Luffy takes a deep breath and yells, "MARGUERITE!"

Almost immediately, three women come running towards him, their arrows aimed at him.

"Hi, I'm Luffy," he says, only part of his wide, gummy smile a lie. "I'm going to"— _become Pirate king,_ are the words that almost tumble out of his mouth, basically a reflex at this point—"save Ace, so I need to talk to Hammock! I mean, Hancock."

Luckily, Luffy stops himself from saying anything more. Perhaps less luckily, they take offense at how casually he addresses their Snake Princess, and he finds himself locked in a familiar cell, pending judgement from Hancock when she returns.

It's strange how some things _always_ happen, no matter how much he changes. _Like Ace's death_ , he automatically thinks, and tries to smother that thought because this time, Ace isn't going to die. He's locked in this cell again, he's going to befriend Hancock again, he's going to free countless prisoners again, but Ace is _not_ going to die again.

"Elder Nyon!" exclaims one of the guards, and Luffy looks up, shaking off his dark thoughts. The old lady is another constant in his desperate attempts to rescue Ace.

She walks right up to the cell and squints at him, then looks down at the newspaper in her hands.

"You're Straw Hat Luffy," she says, and it's half a question and half a statement.

"Yeah, and I need your help and Hammock's to save Ace," Luffy responds.

"You are a man, trespassing in Amazon Lily, and you expect us to help you?" the Elder asks, the judgement clear on her face.

From all around them, there are gasps of horror and whispers of curiosity, but Luffy's undeterred. "Yeah, because I need to save Ace."

"Fire Fist Ace's fate is nyone of our business. Why would we help you?"

Luffy frowns because Ace _is_ their business; they just don't know it yet. "Because Hancock is my friend."

Again, Kuja warriors all around them gasp, scandalized, and begin berating Luffy for even believing a mere man like him could be _friends_ with their empress. Several of the guards decide to aim their arrows at him. Then, out of nowhere, they actually shoot, so Luffy has no choice but to break out of the cell, bringing Elder Nyon with him.

Running away from Kuja warriors and causing chaos in the city is very, very familiar to Luffy by now, so he easily evades his pursuers. He stretches one of his arms, aiming for the roof of the palace, and he and Elder Nyon shoot up into the sky. They crash through the roof, landing somewhere inside the palace, and he sets the dazed Elder down.

"Hammock and her sisters have a mark on their backs," Luffy says, earning him a very scandalized look from Elder Nyon.

"Is this blackmail?" she asks, her voice barely above a whisper.

"No, I'm just trying to prove to you that Hancock and I are friends. Were friends? Uh, maybe it's will be friends because I'm in the past," Luffy concludes, nodding to himself. He thinks he's explained it well enough for Elder Nyon to get it because she's the smart one who figured it out the first time.

"You're…in the past?" she repeats.

"Yeah!" Luffy says because he knows that if he just responds to her questions enough, she'll figure it out eventually and she'll help him convince Hancock. "You told me the first time that I must be time traveling, which is why things are repeating again and none of you know who I am even though you should."

"Time traveling," she repeats again, which he's used to.

"Yeah!"

Elder Nyon faints, but Luffy manages to catch her before her head hits the floor. There's nothing to do but wait until she wakes up or Hancock comes back, and that leaves an itch under Luffy's skin. Waiting is a very, very difficult thing to do, especially because he can just imagine Ace sitting in his cell, believing that no one will come for him, but it's necessary. And Luffy's learned to stomach difficult things in order to do what's necessary.

He's also hungry, so he decides to raid the kitchens while he's waiting.

* * *

It doesn't sound like Hancock's back by the time Luffy's eaten his full, so he grabs some alligator meat as a snack for later and decides to wander a bit. The palace is gigantic with all sorts of treasure lining the hallways; the pirate within him wants to steal a thing or two, but Hancock's a friend and he has to find the old lady again.

As Luffy continues to wander, he realizes that he shouldn't have left her behind because he doesn't quite remember where in the palace they landed to begin with. It's the type of carelessness that Nami would be lecturing him over but ultimately resigned to, and he's been trying to be better about it, but old habits are hard to break. Luffy has a tendency to be careless and act on a whim that's followed him since childhood, and he's relied on his strength and his luck to escape numerous desperate situations.

It's just that to save Ace, he needs more than his strength and his luck. He needs more than an amazing capacity for making friends in odd places. He needs to be tricky, like Nami and Usopp, and sneaky, like Robin.

Luffy walks all over the palace, struggling to remember how he got to the kitchens, when he hears shouting. He runs toward the source of the sound and happens upon Hancock, looking down upon some of her subjects, surrounded by chunks of mud. Elder Nyon is there, too, and Luffy almost shouts Hancock's name before remembering that he's trying to be more discreet.

Unfortunately, as he's thinking about what he should do if he's not going to get Hancock's attention by shouting her name, one of the warriors spots him, points, and yells, "There's the intruder!"

Hancock spins around to face him, her chin already raised in condescension. "An intruder?" she asks, her voice cold and dangerous. The expression on her face, or the little of it that he can see from this angle, is chilling and cruel, but Luffy has witnessed her risk _everything_ for him and lose it all. She has been and will be his friend and an invaluable part of his plan to save Ace.

"Yes, ma'am!" squeaks one of the younger warriors, trembling as Hancock turns to face her.

Being tricky and sneaky won't help in this situation, he decides, because what Hancock values is his honesty and the strength of his will. Running away isn't going to help because he needs to talk to Hancock anyway.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Capture him!" Hancock demands, kicking at a chunk of mud.

The warriors approach him warily and tie him up, suspicious of his lack of resistance. They drag him along, at Hancock's orders, and bring him to the throne room. She sits on her throne and looks down on him, a haughty sneer on her face. This scenario is familiar again, like one of those events destined to happen.

"What business do you have here?" she asks, resting her chin on one of her hands.

"I need you to help me save Ace!"

"No. What a ridiculous idea—"

Elder Nyon clears her throat, interrupting Hancock. "I think you might want to talk to this man in private."

Everyone else in the room except for Luffy flinches when Hancock rises from her throne, a hand poised to slap the Elder. They all back away when Luffy prevents Hancock's hand from connecting.

"It's concerning a matter I'm sure you and your sisters consider important," Elder Nyon continues, which makes Hancock freeze.

There's fear in her eyes as she looks at Luffy and then her sisters. Her voice trembles slightly when she commands the servants and other warriors to leave.

"I know about the mark on your backs, but I'm not going to tell anyone," Luffy insists once the last servant hurries out. All three sisters look like they doubt him, but only Sandersonia and Marigold look scared.

" _How_ ," Hancock hisses, leaning forward into his personal space. "How do you know about it?"

"I traveled back in time, so you don't know me anymore. But I saw it before, and you tried to kill me, but then you helped me out. So you should help me out with saving Ace again!" Luffy says.

Instead of acquiescing, Hancock scoffs, settling back onto her throne. "Utterly ridiculous. You expect me to believe such a boldfaced lie?"

"I'm not lying though! How else would I know?"

Hancock's gaze slides toward Elder Nyon. "Perhaps a _traitor_ decided to let slip one of my secrets in a foolish attempt to gain control over me."

Her sisters gasp while Elder Nyon rolls her eyes. "You're already massively indebted to me," she states calmly while Luffy watches on. Persuading Hancock to help is always, always difficult, but he's never failed and he doesn't want to start now.

Hancock stands, forms a heart with her hands, and says, "I am not indebted to you at all."

Sandersonia and Marigold flinch as Hancock shouts, "Mero Mero Mellow!" Luffy jumps in front of the attack, attempting to shield the Elder from it, but she turns to stone anyway.

"Why did you do that?" Luffy complains. "Turn her back!"

Hancock collapses onto her throne while her sisters stare at Luffy, frozen in shock. "How could you possibly resist my beauty?" Hancock asks.

"Who cares about that?" Luffy responds. "Turn her back!"

Hancock is quick to recover from her shock and smiles cruelly, assessing Luffy and the statue of Elder Nyon coldly. "Would you rather I help you save your precious Ace or turn Elder Nyon back?"

Luffy's heart seizes with fear, beating twice as fast. He needs to save Ace. He _needs_ to, but he says, "Turn her back."

Hancock throws her head back and laughs. "That's what I—wait, you're choosing to save this old lady you barely know over someone who's clearly precious to you? That's not…that's not normal," Hancock finishes weakly, her voice trailing off.

"The old lady didn't do anything wrong!" Luffy insists, even as his heart hurts. He can't fail this time, too. What if this is his last chance? Then, Ace will die, and it will be permanent. He needs Hancock's help; he's always had her help, but… "Even if you won't help me save Ace, I'll find a way to save him, but I don't have time to find a way to save the old lady without you."

Her arms trembling, Hancock reverts Elder Nyon.

* * *

Despite the utter ridiculousness of it all, Hancock has to accept that Luffy has, in fact, time traveled. There's no other explanation for how he tells her the horrid details of her past, albeit in a scattered, rather incoherent manner.

Elder Nyon could have told Luffy, but with the way the old lady's swaying on her feet, Hancock doubts she did. She's not nearly that good of an actor.

So, Hancock can accept that Luffy has time traveled, but that does not mean he has to insist on her assisting him with his foolish attempt to break into Impel Down. Even if he turns those earnest, compassionate eyes on her, pestering her incessantly.

"I said no already," Hancock says, her chin tilted at the perfect angle to look down on him. Her voice is steady, her posture indicating her utter contempt for the man in front of her. Even if it looks like Luffy has convinced both of her sisters of his selflessness, the importance of his quest, she maintains her coldness.

Or, at least, she tries to. It doesn't help that Elder Nyon informs her of Luffy punching a World Noble to indicate his resolve and strength of character, and it definitely doesn't help that Luffy appears to be completely unrepentant.

"That guy deserved it," he insists, frowning. His eyes seem to gaze into the distance, his mind no longer in the present, and Hancock recognizes the pain written clearly on his face. Whatever he has experienced, it has scarred him, and yet he is still capable of such cheerfulness.

And suddenly, Luffy is right in front of her face, asking _her_ if she's okay. Hancock snaps at him, but then she notices the tears streaming down her face and allows herself to cry for the first time in a very long time.

Luffy pats her on the back, and he pleads in a small, quiet voice, "Please help me save Ace. I really do need your help." He reminds her of her younger self, desperate for anyone at all to come rescue her and her sisters, desperate for any sort of help at all.

She flushes, unwilling to seem so _soft_ , but gives in. "Fine, I'll help you."

Luffy's blinding smile makes her heart beat so quickly, she's afraid she'll faint.

* * *

Elder Nyon claims that Hancock has contracted Love Sickness and warns her of its dangers. Hancock pays the old lady's words no mind and treasures the fluttering feeling in her chest whenever Luffy speaks to her, whenever she sees Luffy, and even whenever someone mentions Luffy's name. She knows that old lady doesn't really care, as long as she won't die from the sickness and she fulfills her duty as one of the Shichibukai (while secretly helping Luffy, of course).

She sneaks Luffy onto the marine ship, and she covers for him as he indulges in his rather barbaric style of eating, all in the name of _love_. The mere thought of being near Marineford makes her tremble, and the idea of entering Impel Down does, too. She endures it because she can't be seen as weak, and she endures it because Luffy fearlessly, recklessly wants to break into Impel Down, even though it undoubtedly reminds him of horrible things he can only hope to forget.

The haunted look in his eyes as he stared in the direction of Impel Down while they were trapped on that marine ship…it tells of unspeakable horrors, and it stays with Hancock as she turns the monitoring Den-Den Mushi to stone, as she proceeds with a body check, as she greets the warden, as she follows him deep down into the confines of Impel Down.

"Luffy is here to save you," she whispers to Ace. His face is twisted in frustration, the kind that an older brother feels toward a younger one doing something incredibly, amazingly stupid. "Accept his help. You want to live, don't you?"

There's a question in his eyes, asking her why she's helping Luffy. Hancock doesn't give him an answer because her reasons come from a weak, soft heart that she's unwilling to show in a place such as Impel Down.

The thing is, Luffy has given her hope, he has given her cold, dead heart a reason to thaw. Impel Down and Marineford might make her skin crawl, but she continues on, for Luffy's sake. She stalls and stalls and stalls. She insists on making a stop on Level 4 to use the bathroom, she insists on taking all the time she needs, because she is the most beautiful woman in the world and they should all cater to her whims.

* * *

Luffy parts with Hancock on Level 1 even though the simplest method would be to have her keep concealing him all the way up until she sees Ace. It's the most direct way but also incredibly dangerous because Luffy was a fool to think Magellan wouldn't notice. He was a fool, and Hancock paid the price for it, so this time, Luffy parts with her like he did the very first time he went through all this.

He runs around, looking for the staircase. It's always incredibly hard to find, which is probably the point, but Luffy manages to bump into Buggy, who's in the midst of a daring escape.

"It's _you_!" he screams in delight, body splitting apart as one of the blue gorillas throws an axe. "So you got captured, did you?"

"No, I'm here to save Ace," Luffy corrects him. Predictably, Buggy freaks out and starts shouting about how stupid he is and asking how in the world he managed to break in.

Luffy tunes out Buggy's shouting and punches the blue gorilla chasing after Buggy, helping Buggy with his escape. By now, Buggy's a friend, even if he himself doesn't know it, a friend who's undergone this jailbreak with Luffy many, many times. "Help me save Ace!"

"Hell no, that's crazy!" Buggy says, inching away from Luffy, but that's expected, too. Buggy is a little bit of a coward.

"I have the map to Captain John's treasure," Luffy says, gesturing to his arm band. Buggy's eyes go comically wide, and he's practically salivating with greed. "You can have it if you want." It's the least he could do for a friend that's going to help him save Ace.

"Of course, of course. Wait, really? You'll let me have it?" Buggy asks and snatches it from Luffy. He starts laughing uncontrollably. "You're letting me have it just like this?"

"Yeah, now give me your feet and let's go save Ace!"

* * *

Straw Hat is completely, utterly insane. He is also ridiculously lucky. There's no other way to explain it. Buggy has tried to shake off Straw Hat at least ten times, but each time, he's been foiled in a way that's completely out of Straw Hat's control. It also doesn't help that Straw Hat has Buggy's feet, and he's not even going to question how Straw Hat knows so much about his powers. He probably doesn't even actually know, and it's just his ridiculous luck that he decided to take Buggy's feet.

"IVA-CHAN!" Straw Hat's shouting as he runs all over Level 1 with Buggy's feet tucked under his arms. He's attracting insane amounts of attention, failing to be discreet at all, and most definitely impeding Buggy's own escape.

Sighing, Buggy resigns himself to freeing the other prisoners on Level 1 and inciting them to start a riot. At least it'll take attention away from him, or it would if Straw Hat would quit shouting for this Iva-chan character.

Honestly, it's not like Iva-chan or someone who knows this Iva-chan will suddenly pop out of the walls and answer Straw Hat.

"Are you, perhaps, looking for Iva-san, Straw Hat Luffy?" someone asks, and Buggy swears Straw Hat has a goddess of luck on his side because there's a half-orange, half-white man, holding a wine glass, climbing out of a wall.

"Yeah!" Straw Hat says cheerily, despite the utter chaos around them and the fact that a strange man just _climbed out of the wall_.

"And why would that be?" the man asks, his face expressionless. It's clear that he's threatening them, though, and any sane man would—well, it's a moot point anyway because Straw Hat clearly isn't sane.

"I need his help!" Straw Hat says because of course he would say that. It's like he thinks everyone will help him just because he wants them to. Well, Straw Hat's in for a rude awakening because judging from the man's expression, Iva-chan isn't going to be helping them anytime soon.

Except the man says, "Follow me" after Straw Hat whispers in his ear for a while, and Buggy should've known better than to doubt the power of Straw Hat's luck.

* * *

"I need your help to save Ace!" Luffy says to Iva-chan, who launches into an explanation for why he's not going to do anything, as he always has. It involves Dragon, so of course Luffy tells Iva-chan that Dragon's his dad.

Iva-chan's complete surprise and overreaction is another constant, but Buggy and the lack of injuries on his body are not. So, while Iva-chan's evaluating him with a considering look, Buggy is flying around like a crazy guy.

"Your dad is Dragon?" he yells. "The most wanted man in the world? Oh, who am I kidding, of course! Of course your dad is Dragon!"

Luffy laughs, a small "Shishishi" but still a genuine one. With Iva-chan's help, Luffy creates an uproar throughout all the levels of Impel Down. The residents of Newkama Land sneak into all the levels, except Level 6, and free as many prisoners they can. It creates a chaos the likes of which Impel Down has never seen before and is entirely unequipped to handle, especially with Magellan stuck inside an elevator and unaware of what's happening.

Meanwhile, Luffy goes down to Level 6 where Ace is along with Iva-chan and the wine guy, undetected by Impel Down's incredibly distracted security. He rushes toward where he knows Ace's cell is and starts crying before he even sees Ace.

"I'm here to save you," he says.

"I didn't ask to be saved," Ace grumbles, and it hurts a little because Luffy's been trying so hard for so long to rescue Ace. Ace must see that Luffy's disappointed because he relents and says, "But thanks for coming."

Luffy grins, his smile wide and gummy, and all of it is genuine. Once the wine guy frees Ace from the cell, he hugs Ace so tightly, he's almost afraid that Ace will break. And Ace hugs him back gently and doesn't even care about the snot and tears that Luffy's wiping on him.

"We should hurry," wine guy says, and he's right and logical. It isn't over yet. Ace falling to his knees as they made their escape, covered in Magellan's poison or a hole in his chest from Akainu or numerous tiny holes in his chest courtesy of Kizaru…those images are all still burned into Luffy's mind.

He's happy that Ace is out of the cell, but it isn't entirely over yet. They still have to make their way outside of Impel Down, where the ship Hancock's on is hopefully still outside waiting. The wine guy frees Jinbe, which makes Luffy smile more, and also the crocodile guy, who Iva-chan threatens.

Together, they climb the stairs, up towards the freedom that's just slightly out of their grasp. They slip by prisoners rioting, by guards fighting against the prisoners. On some levels, the guards are more successful in subduing the prisoners, and it takes more effort for them to sneak by the guards.

On Level 4, the crocodile guy meets up with one of his subordinates and splits off from them. On Level 3, Luffy reunites with Bon-chan, and he twirls around with Bon-chan for a while. This time, he's going to succeed. He's going to succeed perfectly by rescuing Ace and Jinbe and Iva-chan and Bon-chan. He's not going to let Bon-chan sacrifice himself for Luffy's sake because Luffy's selfish.

On Level 2, Buggy and Mr. 3 are leading the riot, shaking the floor with their fervor, and Luffy smiles wildly as he passes by them, holding on to Ace. The riot on Level 1 is more contained, but Luffy and the rest of his allies manage to take down the guards lingering there. They burst outside, marine ships in front of them and the hell that is Impel Down behind them.

"I can't believe ve forgot about the marines," Iva-chan exclaims, and then goes on to say, "Just kidding, I didn't!" Luffy laughs because Hancock's ship is still here, which means they won't be a problem anyway.

The marines around them aim to fire, but all of them are turned to stone. Hancock strides toward the bow of the ship and looks down upon the prisoners.

"Thanks, Hancock!" Luffy yells up at her. He stretches one of his arms, the other firmly wrapped around Ace, and reaches for the ship. They crash right into Hancock, and for that, Luffy says, "Oops, sorry. Didn't mean to." He also bows his head and says with all the heaviness of his experiences weighing him down, "Thanks for helping me save Ace."

Ace ruffles his hair and pulls him into a hug. Then, he turns toward Hancock, bows even more deeply than Luffy did, and solemnly says, "Thanks for helping out my little brother. I know he's a lot of trouble."

Hancock's face turns a dark shade of red, but she still tries to act haughty. It's a weird combination.

The other prisoners are streaming onto the ship, and so Hancock goes to intimidate all of them into submission. With the marines out of the way, their ship sails on the Calm Belt right back toward Amazon Lily.

It's like a dream come true for Luffy to hug Ace, bask in the warmth of his brother's embrace, and know that he's rescued Ace.

It's so much like a dream, in fact, that Luffy finds himself waiting for it to end. There's a horrible feeling in his stomach, as he holds on to Ace, a feeling like he's about to throw up. It's the same feeling that surfaces after each time he fails to save Ace, that prefaces him appearing inside a bulky machine on Amazon Lily.

Luffy latches onto Ace, tears forming in his eyes again. He doesn't want to do this over again, especially not now that he's finally saved Ace. He _can't_.

* * *

"I see you're still a crybaby," Ace murmurs to Luffy, but there's no heat behind his words. Luffy's grip is tight enough that it actually really hurts, and his eyes are wild and desperate, like a caged animal's.

Ace wraps Luffy up into a crushing hug that's probably way too warm, but Luffy doesn't complain, just wraps his own rubbery arms around Ace. "Rest now, you idiot," Ace says because he's totally exhausted and Luffy should be even more so, considering he was the one doing the rescuing. Ace gives Luffy a light punch on the head and sighs. Luffy's honestly way too reckless.

* * *

Luffy lets Ace punch him without retaliating. He's just grateful that Ace is alive.


End file.
